


Center of the World

by DarkPhoenixGoddess10



Category: Legend (2015), Tom Hardy Characters, Tom Hardy Fandom
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M, Warrior crossover
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-23
Updated: 2017-09-23
Packaged: 2019-01-04 02:16:43
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,513
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12159567
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DarkPhoenixGoddess10/pseuds/DarkPhoenixGoddess10
Summary: "Center of the World can be anywhere you want it to be."Frances was a sixteen year-old teenager who tried to balance her life with a strict mother, an irresponsible brother, a job she didn't enjoy, and her constant absent father. Her dream was to leave her hometown and become a novelist. By fate, she met Reggie, a mysterious British guy whom everyone in town respected and feared. Unbeknownst to her, it would be him who helps her finding her center of the world.





	Center of the World

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by this graph set: http://tenderest-contender.tumblr.com/post/165551690817/frances-reggie-kray-moodboard

"Frances! Frances!" 

A tall and slender seventeen year-old rushed into the house. He ran straight to Frances room and threw down his backpack. Sitting on the floor, Indian-like, he began to explain himself.

"I'm in trouble."

"Again?" Frances didn't even look at him. 

"I have a paper to write, and it's overdue."

"So? Just write it and hand it in. It's not the end of the world."

"Well, actually it's not an assignment that is overdue for me," Frank said. "It's...for someone else."

"Are you tutoring?"

"No, I am not."

"Why are you writing a paper for someone else?"

"It's for Reggie," Frank told her.

"Reggie?" Frances raised an eyebrow. She had heard this name before, here and there.

"Reggie is going to kill me," Frank said.

"Why is he going to hurt you? It's his paper and his problem."

"No, you don't understand-"

"Frank, no," Frances shook her head. "Please don't tell me that you are smoking marijuana again."

After some silence, Frank admitted. "Yep, I am using it. Reggie is my supplier-"

"Frank! You got yourself into this and you need to take care of it!" Frances showed her frustration. "When you and Bubble had Frannie, it was I who called the hospital when Bubble was in labor! After Frannie is born, I have been your unpaid sitter while you are being an absent father! Now you want me to write a paper for you? No way!"

"Frances, sister, please!" Frank begged. 

"Frank, I don't have time for this today," Frances said. "I had a tough time today with the dogs. I really don't want to clean up your messes right now."

"Frances, please!" Frank begged again. "How about this? I'll write and you just tell me what to write."

"What is the paper about?"

"It's about a novel."

"What's the novel?"

" _Wuthering Heights_."

"You know what the book is about?"

"No, I haven't read it yet," Frank admitted. "But I'm sure that you did."

Indeed, Frances was an avid reader.

"Fine," she said. "I'm going to speak and you are going to write. If your hand can't catch up, then too bad."

Working together, the two somehow completed five-page paper within half-an-hour, much to Frank's relief. Frances thought it was the last of it, but she was wrong. 

"One last thing," Frank said. "Can you take this paper to Reggie?"

"What?" Frances couldn't believe her ears.

"He won't be mad at you!"

"Why can't you hand it to him at school? If he dares to lay his hand on you, there will be teachers and other witnesses-"

"He is hardly at school."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean exactly what I've said - he's hardly at school," Frank repeated himself. "Look, Frances, I'm sorry, alright? I really am. You are my sister and I love you. I named my daughter after you in your honor. I know that I have been a loser, but it's going to change after this. Please? Hand this to Reggie on my behalf and it will be the end of it. I will not interact with Reggie again after this, ever again."

"That better be a promise."

* * *

 Without a car, Frances walked to Reggie's house. She never met Reggie though she heard a few things about him at school and around town. He was respected but also feared. At school, at least, it was very obvious no one would want to rub him off in the wrong way. There was another rumor that he has a crazy twin brother who is a boxer. Some said that his twin sustained a head injury from a boxing match that only made him crazier. So crazy, in fact, that he had to be locked up in his room. With nothing else to do, he spent most of his time and energy practicing boxing. His punches were so loud that the whole neighborhood can hear.

_Just hand him the paper and say it's from Frank. And then leave._

She came before his house. 

It was large house.

She knocked on the door and waited. After a few minutes, the door was answered.

Before her was a tall, dashing guy who dressed in suit and tie. 

"What do you want?" He spoke with a British accent.

And not too friendly.

Is this Reggie? Or his crazy twin? 

"This is for Reggie," she said meekly, handing him the paper.

"Who are you?"

"Frances," she replied. 

"Frank's sister?"

She said nothing and began to leave. She walked further and further from the house and then picked up the speed, as if she was a gothic tale heroine who is running away from a haunted house.

* * *

She took care of Frank's problem but then found a problem of her own - menstrual cramps. 

Frances had a bad history with menstrual cramp and her mother Elsie had taken her to the doctor a couple of times. The doctor said that there is nothing can be done other than treating symptoms. It was part of the reasons she started to eat much less.

At the nurse's office, she was given a couple of Tyenols, which made her drowsy. She reminisced the time before she was hospitalized. Though it wasn't pretty, but at least it spared her the menstrual cramp.

It was stupid.

It all began with Frank's joke. When he got his girlfriend Bubble pregnant, he constantly made big belly jokes with Bubble. Then, he dragged Frances into this. Frances always had a belly since she was a child. She was thin, no doubt; but always that belly made her feel fat. 

_In months, you will be as big as Bubble!_

That comment buried in her brain and then spread like cancer. 

She began to eat less. At first, no one noticed since everyone in the family paid more attention to Frank since he was becoming a teenage father. After Frannie's birth, Elsie started to notice Frances' menstrual period became irregular and that her grades were dropping. After a confrontation, Frances admitted that she was only eating one meal a day. Elsie tried to turn Frances' habit around at home, but it didn't work out to say at the least. With no other choice, Frances was hospitalized. It did help her and was followed by therapy. Three meals a day was still too much for her and thus she was maintaining two. Her health was recovering and her period was back, which was something Frances not very happy about. The eating disorder and treatment costed her two years of school and thus she was behind. Elsie was upset with her, unsurprisingly. But had Elsie ever hold Frank responsible? In Frances' eyes, Frank could get away with everything.

She closed her eyes and began to fall asleep.

* * *

_The music was loud and jazz was playing. The sound of laughter was everywhere. The clouds of cigar smoke blocked her view. Frances waved the smokes away. She saw couples dressed up to the nine dancing around her._

_A waiter offered her a glass of wine, to which she refused._

_Where am I? She asked herself._

_Among the faces, she spotted a familiar one. But then instantly, that face disappeared._

_Frances searched for that individual. She was very lost._

_Until a pair of hands took hers._

_Together, they began to dance._

_Frances didn't look at the face of the individual whom she danced with. But she was very comfortable in his arms._

_"Frances, I'm going away," he said to her. "I am to submit myself to the authority in the morning. Write to me Frances, send me your pictures. Let me know that you are well, that you are thinking of me as I am of you."_

_Before Frances could say anything, the clock strike midnight._

_Ding...Ding...Ding...._

DONG!

Frances opened her eyes and found herself in a large bed. She didn't recognize the place. She was at the nurse's office, the last thing she remembered.

No, this wasn't her home either.

In the room was a grandfather clock - something her family never had.

"Oh you're awake."

Standing before her was no one other than Reggie; he had a cup of tea. He sat on the bed and offered the tea to Frances.

"Drink, it should make you better."

The tea was good; nothing like she tasted before.

"And this."

He handed her a sweet. She liked it too.

"Lemon sherbert," he laughed.

"How did I get here?" She asked him.

"I brought you here," he said. "I saw you at the nurse's office and believe that you deserve better treatment. You looked miserable."

He expressed nothing but kindness. Yet, Frances found it rather awkward to say at the least.

"You like _Wuthering Heights_?" He asked her.

"It's just a book."

"No, based the paper you wrote, it's more than just a book," he said. "I love the novel."

Obviously, he knew the paper wasn't written by Frank. 

"You like Heathcliff?" He asked, then went on about the novel and his take on Heathcliff and particularly Heathcliff's passionate obsession with Catherine. He seemed to be very sympathetic towards Heathcliff, though he was also defiant towards the character's ending. 

"You think it would end differently," Frances said. "Had Heathcliff and Catherine been more honest with each other?"

"They were honest to each other as much as they can be," Reggie remarked. 

Frances looked at Reggie, finding him in suite and tie again, like the last time she saw him. 

"Why did you brought me here?" She asked him.

"Like I said, you looked miserable and you deserve better," he said. "We know each other."

"From where?"

"Previous life," he told her. "We met at your doorstep and we fell in love and got married."

"Did we live happily ever after?" Frances asked half-jokingly. 

Before Reggie could reply, Frances' phone went off.

"Oh no, I'm late for my job!"

"You can't go!" Reggie stopped her before she could get off the bed. "You are not well!"

"I'll live!"

She was very insistent and got out of the room as fast as she could despite the cramp still bothered her.

"Hey!" He took her by the arm and dragged her to his car. "Where is the place?"

Frances gave him the address.

* * *

Reggie was very good with dogs, much better than Frances.

The dogs were hostile towards him first, but Reggie calmed them down within matter of seconds. By the end of dog walking, the dogs were all over him. 

"Dogs are the loyalest animals," he told her. "They also have stronger conscience than humans."

"Are they?"

"You don't like dogs?"

"They are fine."

"You have dogs of your own?"

"No, my mom won't have it."

He dropped her off at her house. Elsie was at the door. 

She looked anything but happy.

* * *

"Was that Reggie?" Elsie questioned her daughter over dinner, eyeing her eating.

"Yes," Frances took another bite. "He gave me a ride. He is being nice."

"I have heard nothing nice about that boy," Elsie said. "Him and his crazy brother whatever-his-name-is. The punches at night, everyone can hear."

"Ronnie," Frank filled in the blank. 

Ignoring her son, Elsie told Frances, "Never see him again, hear?"

* * *

Elsie's word had a little impact on Frances. Although she was very strict and dominating, her working hours prevented her from tracking her children's activities. To make ends meet - which includes mortgage, car payments, two teenagers, and a granddaughter - Elsie had to work two jobs. Her first job started from 8-4; she would come home and make dinner. Right after dinner, she would go on to her second job which ends at around 10. Her husband Frank Sr worked two jobs as well. Thus, Frances had the liberty to see Reggie if she liked too, as long as she didn't tell her family about it.

And she did see him.

After school, she went to Reggie's and the two would spend time together talking and drinking tea. Reggie loved dogs, so he joined her during her dog-walking job. At the evening, when Elsie was working at her second job, Reggie would take her out. It was through their outings that Reggie discovered that Frances had been quite sheltered. For instance, she never went to the movies. One night, Reggie took her to see a movie in 3D IMAX. Frances was thrilled and scared too, feeling she was flying like the protagonist. Her hand held onto Reggie's. Reggie brought them a large container of popcorn but Frances barely had a couple while Reggie ate endlessly. 

"You don't like popcorn," he commented.

Frances did drank a lot of diet coke though.

"It's not good for you," Reggie told her. On their way back, he lectured her about nutrition and dieting; it seemed that he was an expert. Frances was rather annoyed. She got out of the car after they reached to her house without saying goodbye.

* * *

And on the next day, she still saw Reggie. Though Reggie never confronted her of her attitude the previous night, he did opportunity to jab her about it. He was clever with his words, knowing which buttons to push. Sometimes, Frances didn't even realize it until minutes afterwards. It made her angry and she would give Reggie a silent treatment. Reggie would then in turn goading her to speak to him again. The two would reconcile and back to talking terms.

Frank was still doing homework for Reggie. Marijuana remained part of his life, despite his promise to Frances. If he were to think Frances' relationship with Reggie can cut him breaks, then he was wrong. Not only Reggie's deal with him was continued (homework for marijuana), Reggie's time with Frances made her unavailable to babysit little Frannie. In turn, Frank had to take care of Frannie himself. And therefore, at age of seventeen, Frank was a student who did twice much of school work and a father to a two year-old toddler.

As time went by, Frances found happiness with Reggie, forgetting the fact that once she found him fearful and awkward. At night, she even thought about one day leaving the town with Reggie. Together, they would find their center of the world.

_Center of the world..._

_Somewhere she can be who she is and don't owe anyone a thing - not to her mother, not to her peers, not to the world._

_Her mind and soul would be free and she can write her novel and fulfill her dream._

* * *

Her relationship with Reggie was stable. However, there were many things about him that Frances didn't know. She didn't know anything about his family or exactly where he came from. In fact, she had yet met his twin brother Ronnie. She had been to his house and it seemed like Reggie lived there alone. His parents were nowhere to be seen, nor was there any pictures of family. 

"I have to go somewhere," Reggie told her one day when she was at his house. School ended early and Frances thought she could spend more time with Reggie. 

He handed her a key. 

"You can stay here and treat it like your own home," he told her. "Each door has a lock and this is the master key. You can do whatever you want, but under no circumstance should you go to the attic."

"Attic?"

He said nothing more and went straight out of the house.

"I'll be back in a couple of hours!"

* * *

 Curiosity kills the cat.

Frances was puzzled on why she shouldn't go to the attic. Quickly, she thought about Reggie's twin brother Ronnie. Was Ronnie in the attic? Hiding?

Was he chained up?

Or was Reggie really Ronnie? Ronnie being the evil twin who locked Reggie up and stole his identity?

Slowly, taking one step at a time, she moved towards the attic. Standing before a wooden door, she played with the key, debating if she should open it. 

One peek, she told herself. Then I'll leave. 

With her hand shaking, she inserted the key and turned. The door opened a little. She reached her arm inside and found the light switch. Immediately, she saw a shadow on the floor. Something hanging from the ceiling, it looked like. The door opened more and more until it was completely opened. Only then, Frances was relieved. 

The attic was nothing but a workout place. The item hanging from the ceiling was a heavybag. On the walls were full of pictures and newspaper clips. She went to the wall and saw pictures of two young boys, from childhood to young adults. She guessed it was Reggie and his brother Ronnie. The newspaper clips detailed their winnings. 

And there was one newspaper with the headline that caught her eye: _Tenn Boxer Died from Head Injury Sustained from the Boxing Match Against His Twin_.

"Oh," Frances sighed, touching the picture of the twins. 

She was so drawn into the pictures and newspaper clips that she was unaware someone was standing by the door. When she turned around, she found Reggie's eyes staring back at her. 

The key was dropped onto the floor heavily. 

* * *

"I thought I told you not to come here," he said evenly, coming closer to her.

Frances backed up until her body hit the wall.

"But you gave me the key," Frances said. "If you don't want me be here, then you shouldn't have given it to me."

"You like it?" He asked. "This room?"

"Yeah," Frances answered, trying to hide her fear even though it was very apparent. "It's amazing."

"Then I guess you will find the pleasure of staying here until the day you die."

Chill went through her spine. Frances found herself in the plot of the French fairytale _Bluebeard_. Choking on her tears, she sobbed, "Give me five minutes, okay? Just five. I want to have the last moment of my life to myself."

Reggie let out a sigh and pulled her into his arms. "You silly thing, how could you say that? I was mad at you, but not stopped loving you and certainly will never harm you!" 

"You love me?"

Without a word, Reggie began to undress himself. He removed his suit and tie, and finally his shirt. He took her hand and pressed her palm against his well-toned muscles and tattoos that he hid under his suit jacket. Before she could say anything, his lips pressed against hers.

"You're mine Frances."

* * *

Frances rested in bed when Reggie came with tea and lemon sherbert. She noticed her phone is buzzing. Reggie handed it to her and she went through her text. 

"I don't need to walk the dog today," she told him. "The dog is sick."

Reggie took her hand and said, "You doing okay?"

"Still sore," she replied, trying not to move her legs. "I'm sorry."

"For what?"

"About Ronnie," she said. "And what everyone is saying-"

"They are just idiots," Reggie said. "Never knew where did they get the idea."

No, he did not have a crazy twin brother Ronnie who's locked up in his house and practicing boxing at night. He did have twin who died from head injury and it was _Reggie_ practicing boxing at night..

"Why are you here in this town?" Frances asked, even though she guessed the answer.

"My father had his business though it's now in the hands of my brother Charlie because he retired. I want to make something of myself. I make my own rules and don't owe the world a thing. I was a boxer and I loved it. Ronnie and I were started boxing since we were little. And then it was that match." He said nothing more after this.

"What is your plan?"

"What plan?"

"To make something of your own."

"This," he said, making a fist. "There is a MMA tournament. Winner takes $5 million. it's our ticket out of this town, Frances."

"Our as?"

"You and me."

* * *

_You and me._

Frances and Reggie.

It was like a dream come true for Frances; or it seemed to be. 

She said nothing against it and was still herself. But, two weeks after their lovemaking, suddenly she disappeared. 

She left no note to her family, nor to Reggie. Frank found that she took all the money she earned and saved. Elsie was suspicious of Reggie, but Frank didn't dare to reveal that Frances was seeing Reggie. He calmed his mother down and went to see Reggie's place, but only found it empty. Reggie's car was gone too.

Should he call the police?

But then again, what evidence does he have? He had no proof that Reggie did something to his sister. 

Maybe there was something in the house.

With all his guts, Frank broke in. He went straight to the attic but found the door locked. He got on the floor and tried to look inside from under the door. But there was nothing he could see.

Or hear.

The attic room was empty.

Frank looked elsewhere in the house, but found nothing.

Not a single soul was in the house, except for himself.

Then he froze.

Could it be...that Reggie and Ronnie kidnapped Frances and forced her to withdraw her money? 

* * *

The sun had set and it was getting late.

Reggie drove around and then noticed a figure at the bus stop. She was very down and staring at her hands. He got out of his car and went to her.

"There you are," he said, sitting next to her. "You have any idea how worried you got me?"

"Me?" Frances tried to laugh. "You are here alone in this country away from your family."

"That's different. My mum and Charlie know where I am and where to find me."

"You love me, Reggie?"

"I do," he said. “You and I, we were together our previous life. I had a dream the night after we met. I dreamed that we fell in love and married. But the you left me by swallowing a whole bottle of sleeping pills. I was left in a limbo for another thirty years or so. It won’t happen again, Frances. Not in this life.”

 

"I'm pregnant," Frances said slowly. "I couldn't tell my parents and I didn't tell Frankie either. All I could think of is run but I couldn't. I ended up siting on the bus for two days until it brought me back here."

"Hey!" 

The two were interrupted by a figure who ran towards them; it was Frank. Angrily, he marched towards Reggie. "What are you doing with my sister? Where are you taking her?"

Frances stood in between the two. "Frankie, no. It's not what you think!"

"Don't make excuses for him!"

"It wasn't him! I left on my own will-"

Reggie stood before Frances and held her hand tightly in his. "We are getting married. And I am taking her away from here."

"What? You can't do that!"

"Why don't you move out of the way and take your own responsibilities? Go change your daughter's diapers."

"I'm pregnant Frankie," Frances told him. "And I do love Reggie."

Frank was numbed.

* * *

Sitting on her bed, Frances kept to herself. Her parents were outraged with her running away from home. She had yet told them about her pregnancy. Frank kept his silence; Elsie ordered him not to speak to Frances, whom she grounded. Frances was not allowed to leave her room except for using the bathroom. 

Reggie texted her, telling her the tournament has began. 

Frances was very worried about Reggie's safety. She followed Reggie's winning from his texts, until she was caught by Elsie who angrily took the phone away from her. Utterly convinced Reggie was the bad influence that poisoned her mind, Elsie ordered Frances not to see or communicate with Reggie ever again. 

Hearing her mother storming out of the house, Frances went to her desk. She began to write. 

When Elsie came back from her job to check on her daughter, she found the room empty. The window was open. 

And there was a letter left on her bed.

_Dear Mom and Dad..._

* * *

Frances escaped from her room from the window, but Frank saw her. Instead of telling her otherwise, he drove her to Reggie's MMA tournament. 

"Hey Frances, I'm marrying Bubble," he told her before he drove off. "I've learned to be more responsible, and you taught me that. And by the way, I'm a month without marijuana."

Frances waved him goodbye and went inside. 

Only to realize that she didn't have the money for a ticket.

The guard wouldn't let her in.

"I'm here to see Reggie."

The guard raised an eyebrow upon hearing that name. 

"He's good, and dangerous." Then he added. "Maybe it's better for you to stay out here. I wouldn't want to go in there if I were you. Today is the final round."

"Maybe it's his center of the world in there," Frances commented. 

She took a seat on the ground and waited.

Finally, the door opened. 

She saw Reggie, walking out with assistance, as the final winner.

Without a hesitation, she ran to him.

"We won, Frances," he said in between his breath. 

When asked what his next plan is, Reggie responded, "To get married."

* * *

Frances was only sixteen. To get married, she needed parental consent. 

Elsie locked herself in her room after finding out Frances is pregnant. Her father Frank Sr. spoke with Reggie.

"I will give the consent as long as Frances promise me to finish school and you promise not to take Frances too far away."

Frances nodded immediately but Reggie said nothing. 

The conversation ended awkwardly. 

Days later, the wedding plan made headlines. Somehow, Reggie managed to throw a big wedding. His family and his friends from England and other individuals who were interested; but of course, every guest had to be somebody who's famous in a way. Reggie was a man with plan. If he were to make something big with the money he won from MMA tournament, then his first step to his success would start at his wedding. 

In a beautiful lace gown, Frances was given away by her brother Frank.

Finally, when the couple was to exchange vows, Frank Sr showed up giving his consent with Elsie next to him, dressed in black. 

And so the two wedded. Together, they left the town.

* * *

_Eight years later..._

Standing on a podium, Reggie began his speech. As a successful businessman, he spoke at the university graduation. Among the many graduates was his wife Frances, who finished her BA. She was writing her novel too.

After the graduation ceremony, the two posed for picture with two eight year-old boys: twin brothers Reggie and Ronnie. 

Reggie was more shy while Ronnie was more active. The two boys kept Reggie and Frances hands full.

They got into their SUV and headed back to their house. 

"Ronnie, open the window for Mitzie," Reggie said to his son.

Mitzie was their dog.

Eyeing her husband next to her and watching her boys from the view mirror, Frances smile.

She had found her center of the world.  


End file.
